Tibet Journey - Travel Details
Accommodation
From arrival in Kathmandu until we leave Sakya on the morning of Day 12 and for the last two nights in Kathmandu on Days 34 and 35, accommodation will be twin share in three or four star hotels. In the towns of Ali and Tholing on Days 18-20 and in Purang on Day 27, accommodation is only available in guest houses. There will also be an option to have your own single room while staying in hotels at an additional charge. Wherever possible I have chosen to stay in traditional Tibetan-style buildings.
From the evening of Day 12 until the morning of Day 34 but excluding Days 18-20 and Day 27, we will be camping and our Nepali camping crew will join us for the camping part of the trip. The tents will be on a twin share basis with the option to arrange for your own single tent at an additional charge. I have given clear instructions that our Nepali camping crew and Tibetan guide should choose more isolated and beautiful campsites close to running water for our privacy and comfort.
Meals
While staying in hotels and guest houses, breakfast is included in the total cost. While camping, all meals are included.
Transport
Transport within Kathmandu and Lhasa will be by bus and for the rest of the journey in Tibet will be by Toyota Landcruisers (4500 model). Normally there are four people to a Landcruiser but we will have only three passengers per vehicle for extra comfort – one in the front and two in the middle seat to give each person a window seat.
Conditions on the Journey
This journey is essentially meant for those of you who have long had a
desire to visit Tibet to experience for yourselves its people, history
and culture and to do the kora around Mount Kailash. For some of the journey
we will be travelling into very isolated areas of the planet over rough
roads. We will also be experiencing the effects of living at much higher
altitudes than most of us normally do.
The most common symptoms of altitude sickness can be shortness of breath, headache, a difficulty with sleeping, nausea and subsequent emotional irritability. There is medicine to alleviate these symptoms until the body acclimatizes. We will be carrying Diamox pills and homeopathic medicine for that purpose and also oxygen in case of any emergency.
Each of us should prepare intelligently for the trip by making sure that we are at reasonable fitness levels and by having a general physical check-up with a qualified doctor before leaving.
The itinerary has been designed to allow us the easiest time to acclimatise as we slowly gain height from our landing in Lhasa up to the highest point of our journey on Drolma La around Mount Kailash. During the last trip no one experienced anything more than headaches, a little nausea and some difficulty with sleeping.
While not wanting to minimise the importance of your fitness for such a trip, I would also add that many people in their sixties and even seventies have successfully completed this trip and the kora without any problems. At the same time the journey will be a demanding one and each of you should take whatever personal steps you feel is necessary to ensure your physical preparedness for going a long way into the wilderness.
"The Tibet trip was an incredible experience of my life. Me and Tibetan people look similar, so it felt very familiar. With no words I can see behind their strong eyes, they are holding a lot of pain from the past, that is why they have an equal balance of love and understanding, and they are very caring, once you connect you can trust them.
When I joined Tibetan monks and ordinary people chanting in a monastery, my tears kept falling and I never felt so close, nothing special, but all one. Gods and monks and people.
I felt that I just came back home.
Tibetan nature is powerful with abundant energy, of course sometimes intense just like life. Life is sometimes mountain sickness: super mind, headache, not easy to breathe, but I found if I look at positive things, even a small light, and just accept myself, then it started to get easier.
This is what I learned from the beautiful Kailash Kora."- Mukti - Japan